The Dinosaurs are alive and growing larger! (See pic). Seagulls are attacking Pasties!!(no pic)
I gotta get out of here. I’m off to North Biscay, it may be quieter!
Arrived! 22hour crossing( long story) and it’s just as wet and windy here. Even the lampposts are bent over(see pic). I’m visiting uncle Napoleon. He loves horses(see pic). Can you see a family resemblance? No?
Stuck here til the wind stops blowing a screaming hooley. Tough eh?
A bientot
Tuesday 18th July. Bright Blue and an unusual NE’ly breeze. Exit Cherbourg at a sedate 3 knots before the current comes to hasten us to the Race.. Soon we’re 6 knots over the ground and I start the engine, not for speed but to keep some flow past to steer with. The sea has that oily bulging look , like somethings going on in the deeps. I take over from autohelm. No machine can comprehend this swirling motion.Soon we’re making 10 knots and the lighthouse is on my left shoulder and Alerdeny out to Starboard. The sails are just limp so I roll in the Genoa and haul tight the main sheet. Entering the race it’s up and down like a bronco rider and you feel your not going anywhere but the GPS says different. I try to take a picture (see pic), but it’s hard to capture, it only lasts about ten minutes( I came thru early) and you’re through and on with the flow. Guernsey lies ahead, a hazy pancake on the horizon. I hope to make it by nightfall.
At Anchor Guernsey
I made it before nightfall.
Jersey Bound
I wasn’t expecting to do a tour of the Channel Islands but…where the wind blows…
I’m actually heading for Granville , just up from Mont St Michel, eventually, to hide from the awful weather coming this weekend.
So off we go in light airs, spinnaker up and put kettle on. There’s an adverse current but it all works out in the end…(Hope I make it by nightfall!)
Isle de Hebihen
Isle de Hebihen, West of St Malo.
Isn’t that a lovely beach?
Well sheltered too.
Break out the hammocks and pour me a Mai Tai!
What Weather!#@
Tuesday 25th July. I could hear the NW howl all night but had to get to the west of the Bay before the bigger blow coming on Thursday. I battled out for 3 hrs. against wind surf and swell the 7 miles to Cap Freihel (nice castle), but when I’d cleared the big rock and turned West, the wind died! So, slowly 16 miles to beautiful Binic fishing village. I approached at 6pm, low tide, but neaps. A mile out I dropped sail but noticed a rising seabed. 1/2 mile to go only 1.1m on the sounder. I gave up and plopped out the anchor.
Had dinner ( Pan fried cabillaud, spinach tortellini w/ edmame, camembert au lait cru, gros plant wine). At 8pm still only 1.5m water.
Sorry Binic. Next year.
North to Paimpol we go.
Going West
That’s the Heaux de Brehat light to the South of me.
I had to go all the way round the bottom of (senic) St Malo Bay to get here with the minimum of motoring, and I’m heading West at last, albeit with wind over tide for some hours , but the tide has 2 knots with me and Perros Guirec is up ahead like an old friend with a warm hearth.
Miracles happen!
I have to tell you this. A friend told me that mussel bait works for catching dorado so I hung a line over the stern in Paimpol. I forgot about it and at the next port pulled in the line and a long thin fish was hooked but got off as I tried to detach it.
I plopped the line back in and only remembered again in the morning at Roscoff(see pic).
I was feeling despondent as I’d washed my Club Centenary Hoodie and hung it out to dry but it had blown overboard overnight.. Anyway I hauled up my forgotten fishing line, which felt heavy, but it looked like just a lump of seaweed but when I got it on deck I found I had caught my hoodie!
Amazing!
PS: I’ve hung it lower (see pic)
Wind of the Century
I’m anchored in the harbour of Isle de Batz, half a mile North of Roscoff. A huge blow has been raging all night and there’s worse to come. My anchorage is a drying one, like Lyme, so I have some hours of respite to relax and to check my anchors.
I imagine there will be a lot of damage along the English coastline. Stay indoors!
